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WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday in a case that could end cy pres, the practice of steering money in class action settlements to organizations with absolutely no connection to the underlying lawsuit.

Saying the trend carries substantial costs for investors and the entire economy, a new report is calling for reforms to tamp down on the growing surge in the number of so-called securities class action lawsuits filed against companies over mergers, acquisitions or stock price drops - a phenomenon the report author called a "litigation racket."

The judge overseeing multidistrict litigation against the opioid industry has given plaintiffs a stark choice on a tight deadline: Hand over evidence of specific prescriptions they believe were improper or lose the right to present such evidence forever.

BELLEVILLE – Chief Circuit Judge Andrew Gleeson, who had set the first of many pollution trials involving Monsanto and Cerro Copper to be taking place while voters decided whether to retain him, postponed it in August and delayed it indefinitely on Oct. 3.

A settlement binding all potential plaintiffs may be the only practical way of ending nearly 2,000 lawsuits against manufacturers, distributors and retailers of addictive opioid painkillers, said plaintiff lawyers attending a conference on opioid litigation this week.

Fayette County judge J. Marc Kelly pushed back a hearing to set a trial date in a suit involving an alleged Madison County bid-rigging conspiracy until after motions to dismiss and for summary judgment are decided.

Auctioneer James Foley, who is accused of participating in a bid-rigging conspiracy with former Madison County Treasurer Fred Bathon, argues that a hearing should be postponed until the plaintiffs establish a class notice plan and respond to numerous motions seeking summary judgment

EAST ST. LOUIS – Class action lawyers may have taken a risk by calling Chief Justice Lloyd Karmeier to the stand in their trial against State Farm, according to an article published in 2013 by Corporate Counsel magazine.

EAST ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge David Herndon gave class action lawyers many tools to damage Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Lloyd Karmeier and State Farm, but on the eve of trial he opened a hole in the class’s armor.